TRANSIT wishes to take a short moment and wish all those who are celebrating a very happy Spring Festival & Chinese (Calendar) New Year.

And this year as you must already know, will be the year of the Dragon. Specifically, the water dragon – the wisdom, strength and leadership of the dragon, combined with the patience, coolness and perhaps the mystery of the water element.

Ok, so perhaps we didn’t pay enough attention – we were too busy focusing on how this year can be made better for public transport users!

Let’s begin the new year by inviting you, the public, to give us your feedback on what can be done to make public transport better in Malaysia.

As always, we wish everyone happy and safe celebrations, as well as safe & comfortable travels.

TRANSIT took note of this article which describes plans for another corporate restructuring at KTMB.

It is sad that the Malayan Railway has still not managed to figure out whether it is supposed to be a government agency, corporate entity, or something in between.

TRANSIT remembers earlier corporate restructurings that have happened for KTMB. Well, at least they were started but then they got stalled either because of a lack of government support, an unclear vision, or resistance from workers (among other reasons).

The corporatization of KTM began nearly 2 decades ago but it was never finished. A lack of government funding and deferred maintenance since the corporatization has helped bring KTMB to its knees.

Recently one President of KTMB started an RM1 campaign, promising to take KTMB back to profitability. That campaign died aborning, when the president was quickly replaced (it might have had something to do with his “hybrid” trains).

The most recent KTMB President has talked about restructuring KTMB into a holding company, with various railway service subsidiaries (freight, Komuter, ETS, power systems, maintenance, terminal management, etc). and selling track warrants to other companies interested in providing railway services. He believes that this model will be successful because it has worked in Europe – despite the fact that it has not worked in many European countries and that Malaysia lacks the density that makes railway travel profitable.

We wonder what this latest restructuring will bring for KTMB but we wish to share one important point – KTMB needs to have a clear vision of the kind of transport service provider that it needs to be over the next 10-20 years.

Without that clear vision, this latest restructuring will be as effective as the last ones.

PETALING JAYA: KTM Bhd (KTMB) will undergo a two-year corporate restructuring programme to turn around the ailing national rail operator and a consultant will be hired to manage this, according to the Treasury, in its reply to the Auditor-General’s (A-G) report.

TRANSIT recently took note of these articles announcing the demolition of the Butterworth Railway station as part of the Electrification & Double Tracking project from Ipoh to Padang Besar.

The old Butterworth Station will be replaced with a new railway station – one that will presumably be designed to accommodate more electric train services as well as the proposed “Komuter Utara” service (more like ETS but still important) that would service the Northern Corridor Economic Region.

But do not confuse the new Butterworth station with the Penang Sentral project that will be coming up nearby. Penang Sentral is a commercial development with an attached bus hub, while the railway station will be somewhat separate.

TRANSIT took note of a number of articles about the upcoming Balik Kampung period that we thought worthy of note.

Firstly, the director-general of the Road Transport Department has commented that the public should be confident to take buses to their destinations this raya, as buses are much safer than motorcycles.

As you know, each Hari Raya balik kampung period is accompanied by an Ops Sikap and daily announcements about deaths & collisions on Malaysian roads. And every Ops Sikap records that the greatest number of deaths & injuries occur among motorcyclists traveling on Federal Roads.

KUALA LUMPUR: Those planning the annual balik kampung trip this coming festive season have been urged to use public transport, especially express buses.
Road Transport Department (RTD) director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the use of express buses instead of passenger cars will ease the anticipated traffic congestion during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri period.

“The government expects the number of people using public transport to show an increase from 17 per cent last year to 21 per cent this year.

“A recent research by MIROS (Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Reserch) shows that the accident risk of public transport vehicles is seven to nine times lower than passenger cars.

TRANSIT took note of this press release from Balfour Beatty Ansaldo Systems JV, which is working on the Systems Package for the Electrification & Double Tracking project from Ipoh to Padang Besar.

The project, as you know, is a significant investment in KTM railway operations since it will allow a ten-fold increase in train movements – making freight and intercity services more reliable and allowing the opportunity for commuter-rail services as well.

Date: 11th August 2011
PRESS RELEASE
Balfour Beatty Ansaldo Systems JV Sdn Bhd reported today that it has achieved over 20% progress in delivering the Systems Package of works for the Northern Double Tracking Project which runs from Ipoh to Padang Besar in Malaysia.

The Systems Package of works includes the signalling, communications and electrification of the railway line and is the last of the elements to be installed as part of the 329km double tracking project, which is due for completion in December 2013.

BBASJV’s Project Director, Conrad Fawcett, commented “With the majority of the design completed and shipments of materials now arriving, we are now turning our attention to the installation phase of the works. Our Engineering, Planning and Construction teams are working very closely with the Main Contractor, MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd, to ensure that we utilize every opportunity for early site access as this will benefit the project as a whole when our installation works are at peak.

We have established three operational depots along the route for material storage and plant maintenance, and we have our specialized plant ready for installation works once the tracks have been laid” offered Fawcett. “We had one or two issues in the early stages with development of design as one can expect in a project of this size and complexity. However these have been resolved and we are fast working towards total design approval.”

This project is part of a larger railway investment by Malaysia to create a modern and efficient double track railway connection between Johor Bahru and Padang Besar, with the long-term objective of establishing a Pan-Asian Link connecting Singapore to Kunming, China.

TRANSIT Says:

We have high hopes for this project, and also look forward to better communications & information sharing with the companies involved in the railway industry in Malaysia.

TRANSIT took note of this interesting letter by C.R. of Kuala Lumpur, who discusses the recent protest by the Railwaymen’s Union of Malaya (RUM), which included warnings of a “work-to-rule” campaign & potential disruption of Balik Kampung / Hari Raya Aidilfitri travel.

C.R. argues that it might be time to open up the Railway sector to increased competition.

TRANSIT will tell you what we think about the proposal, but first, read the letter:

TRANSIT took note of this article in the Borneo Post which says that the Gemas-Johor Baharu electrified double tracking project is to be tendered out by year-end, according to the Transport Minister.

For those who do not know, the Gemas-JB electrification & double tracking project is the last stretch in the electrification & double tracking of all mainline rail on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

The other EDT projects are:

EDT for the Klang Valley from Rawang to Seremban, including the Port Klang Railway subdivision;

EDT from Rawang to Ipoh;

EDT from Sentul to Batu Caves;

EDT from Ipoh to Padang Besar;

EDT from Seremban to Gemas;

Completing the Gemas – JB stretch will allow ETS train service from Butterworth down to JB, as well as “commuter” rail service in the Iskandar – JB region of Johor.

1. Hotline Story: Stop as you please? Passengers forced to alight even in the middle of the road (Malay Mail, 26 July 2011) – Priveena Mahan complains about being dropped off in the middle of the street.

ANYWHERE WILL DO: A bus stops in the middle of the road for passengers to alight and embark. Image courtesy of The Malay Mail.

[TRANSIT: RapidKL responds here explaining that they cannot always approach bus stops properly because of parked cars at the side of the road. But that should be the exception, rather than the rule.]Continue reading Updates #96→